Once upon a Dark Knight
by KorruptedRoyalty
Summary: Emma was not the only person to get sent away from the EF. Even though Henry believes her to be the Savior, magic cannot predict everything. Regina realizes there is more to 'Ms. Swan' then Rumple predicted all those years ago. Henry realizes the Savior ain't so good either. Life is more than Black and White. We meet Mal's daughter and Regina's other children. #DragonQueen
1. The Dark Knights

"Another banner year," She closes her eyes and blows out the candle. The doorbell rings, Emma walks over to the door and opens it to only find a little boy standing in the hallway, "Uh what can I do for you kid?"

The little boy looks up at her, "Are you Emma Swan?" He asked.

"Who are you?" She asked confused.

"My name is Henry and I'm your son." He introduces himself, slips under Emma's arm and walks into her apartment.

"Who, hey, kid! I don't have a son! Where are your parents, kid?" Emma asked, the joke lost on her.

"Ten years ago, you gave up a baby for adoption? That was me." Henry responded.

She looks at the little boy agitated, "Give me a minute kid." She walks to the bathroom, grabbing her phone on the way in.

Henry looks around the room, Emma had been in the bathroom for a few minutes and he was getting bored, "Hey, do you have any juice? Never mind, found some."

Emma exits the bathroom, she didn't understand how some kid could feel this comfortable around her. Most people could vaguely sense that something was wrong with her.

"You know, we should probably get going?" Henry states after finishing his cup of juice.

"Going where?" Emma asked confused.

Henry looks at her, "I want you to come home with me." He says as he is not asking a complete stranger to take him home.

"Okay, kid, I'm calling the cops." She crossed the room, going to grab her house phone.

"And I'll tell them you kidnapped me." Henry warns.

Emma studies the kid for a second, "And they'll believe you because I'm your 'birth' mother." She walks away from the phone.

"Yup." Henry smirks smugly.

"But you're not gonna do that kid." Emma responds.

"Try me." Henry warns.

"You're pretty good, but here's the thing. There's not a lot I'm great at in life, but I have a particular set of skills. I like to call them my superpowers but one of them superpowers is I can tell when anyone is lying, and you, kid, are." Emma refutes.

"Wait. Please don't call the cops. Please come home with me." He pleads.

"Where's home kid?" Emma asked tired.

"Storybrooke, Maine." He responds.

"Storybrooke? Seriously?" Emma asked, laughing.

Henry nods his head, "Mm-hmm, Storybrooke."

Emma shrugs, "Alright, then. Let's get you back to Storybrooke."

During the long drive, Emma plays music to keep from pulling over and dumping the kid on the side of the road with his asinine conversation.

"I'm hungry. Can we stop somewhere?" Henry asked.

"This is not a road trip kid; we're not stopping for snacks." Emma snaps.

"Why not?" Henry whines.

"Quit complaining, kid. Remember, I could've put your butt on a bus; I still could I really should have." Emma replied, her nails digging into the steering wheel.

"You know, I have a name? It's Henry." He snaps.

"That's really not even on the bottom of my long list of fucks given kid."

"You shouldn't curse around kids." Henry gasped.

"Says who?" Emma snaps.

"My mom." Henry whispers.

Emma notices the book he's gripping tightly, "What the hell is that?"

"I'm not sure you're ready to know." Henry replies seriously.

"Ready for some fairy tales?" Emma laughs.

"They're not fairy tales. They're true. Every story in this book actually happened." Henry states.

"Of course they did." Emma replies skeptically.

"Use your superpower and see if I'm lying." Henry replied.

Emma looks over at him, "Just because you believe something doesn't make it true, kid."

"That's exactly what makes it true. You should know more than anyone." Henry states.

"Why's that?" Emma asked, looking at her watch.

"Because…you're in this book." Henry replies in awe.

"Oh shit, kid you've got some serious problems." Emma replies.

Henry smiles and looks at the window, "Yup and you're going to fix them."

They arrive in town, Emma looks around she'd been around this area of Maine before but had never seen this place.

Emma turns to Henry, "Okay, kid, how about an address?"

"Forty-four, not-telling-you street." Henry replies laughing.

Emma stops the car and gets out, "Look kid, it's been a long night, and it's almost," She looks at the clocktower, "8:15? That's not right."

"That clock hasn't moved my whole life because times frozen here." Henry said.

"Excuse me?" Emma looks at the boy.

"The Evil Queen did it with her curse. She sent everyone from the Enchanted Forest here." Henry explains.

"Hang on. The Evil Queen sent a bunch of fairytale characters here." Emma asked questioning his theory.

"Yeah and now they're trapped." Henry agrees.

"Frozen in time, stuck in Storybrooke, Maine. That's what you're going with?" Emma asked.

"It's true!" Henry exclaims.

"Then why doesn't everybody just leave?" Emma asked.

"They can't. If they try, bad things happen." Henry whispers.

"And they call us crazy." Emma whispers under her breath.

A weird looking man walked up to them with his Dalmatian, "Henry! What are you doing here? Is everything all right here?" He asked.

"I'm fine, Archie." Henry laughs petting Pongo.

"And who's this?" He asked.

"Just someone trying to give him a ride home, dude." 'Emma' replied.

Henry looks at the woman he believed to be his mother, noticing the change in her personality from before Archie walked up on them.

"She's my mom, Archie." Henry boasts.

"Oh, I see." Archie replied.

"So do you know where he lives or nah?" Emma growls irritated.

"Oh um yeah sure, just uh, right up on Mifflin street; the Mayor's house is the biggest one on the block." He pointed.

Emma turns to Henry, who looks away, "You're the Mayor's kid?"

"Um, maybe?" Henry blushes.

"Just fucking great." Emma mutters.

"Hey. Where were you today, Henry, because you missed our session." Archie wondered.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you. I went on a field trip." Henry lies.

Archie crouches to get face-to-face with Henry, "Henry, what'd I tell you about lying? You are angry at your mother for lying to you about your adoption yet here you are lying about your whereabouts." Archie admonishes.

"Well okay! I really should be getting him home." Emma replies just wanting to get as far away from the red headed creep as possible.

"Yeah. Sure. Well, listen have a good night and uh you be good, Henry." Archie said walking off.

Emma looks over at the blushing 10-year old, "So that's your shrink?"

Henry's head whips her way, "I'm _not_ crazy."

"That's what crazy people usually say," Emma opens the door to her door and get's in, "Get in the car Henry."

Henry gets in the car and slams the door.

"I don't care too much for you slamming my door, kid. I don't care if you don't like being called crazy because some people wouldn't like being threatened by a 10-year old. And some people would hate being called an Evil Queen as well." Emma retorts.

Emma pulls off, angrily.

"Please don't take me there." Henry pleads.

"I have to, kid. I'm pretty sure your parents are worried sick about you." Emma tries not really knowing what to say to the kid.

"I don't have parents. I have a mom and she's-evil." He replies hatefully.

"And you're crazy." Emma replies.

"I am not!" Henry snaps.

"Yet you call your own mother evil. That's a bit extreme don't you think?" Emma asked genuinely wanting to know.

"She is evil. She doesn't love me; she only pretends to." Henry growls.

"I'm sure that's not true trust me." Emma replies.

"She doesn't she only acts like it." Henry exclaims.

"If she didn't love you she wouldn't have adopted you trust me. I know that people can only pretend for so long. How many times a week does she whoop you?" Emma asked.

"Never! Mom doesn't hit me but that doesn't mean…" Henry exclaimed, "Yes, it really does. If she didn't love you that's something that cannot be faked, the world would know her true emotions." Emma explained.

They get out of the car, the front door opens, to reveal a woman and a man who was obviously the Sheriff.

"Henry!" The beautiful woman called out, "Are you okay? Where have you been? What happened?"

"I found me and Danny's real mom!" Henry barked hatefully running into the house.

"You are Henry and Daniel's birth mother?" She asked Emma.

"It's complicated." Remembering that there was another baby born and given away on that day 10-years ago.

The Sheriff cleared his throat, "I'll just…go check the lad, make sure he's okay." The Sheriff chased walked into the house to check up on the boy.

"How'd you like a glass of the best apple cider you ever tasted?" The woman offered Emma.

"You got anything stronger?" Emma asked seriously.

They walked into the house Regina walks over to a bar area while Emma stands in the foyer.

Regina enters with a set of glasses, "How did he find me?" Emma asked.

"No idea. When I adopted them, they were only three weeks old. Records were sealed, I was told the birth mother didn't want to have any contact." Regina replied accusingly.

"You were told right." Emma replies.

"And the father?" Regina asked hopeful.

"There is a father but trust me there is nothing to be worried about." Emma smirks, thinking ' _if only you knew_.'

"Do I need to be worried about you, Miss Swan?" Regina asked suspiciously.

"Absolutely not." Emma replies instantly.

The Sheriff came walking down the stairs, "Madame Mayor, you can relax. Other than being a tired little boy, Henry's fine." The Sheriff announced.

"Thank you, Sheriff," She shows him to the door, returning to the foyer leading Emma into the sitting room. "I'm sorry that he dragged you out of your life. I really don't know what's gotten into him."

"Kid's having a rough time. Happens, especially if he shares my DNA." Emma smirks.

"Henry unlike his brother, Daniel is usually a well-behaved boy," Regina explains. "You have to understand, ever since I became mayor, balancing things has been tricky. You have a job, I assume?"

"Uh well, I keep busy. Yeah."

"Imagine having another one on top of it. That's being a single mom to twin boys especially. So I push forward. Am I strict? I suppose. But I do it for their own good. I want Daniel and Henry to excel in life. I don't think that makes me evil, do you?" Regina asked, her eyes bright and sincere to Emma.

"From what I can tell they have it easy. You're put together, they could have had it way much worse," Emma states honestly. "But I'm sure he's just saying that because of the fairytale thing."

"What fairytale thing?" Regina asked sharply.

"Oh, you know, his book. How he thinks everyone's a cartoon character from it. Like his shrink is Jiminy Cricket."

Emma noticed the confusion instantly, "I'm sorry, I—really have no idea what you're talking about."

Emma raises her hands in surrender, "You know what, its none of my business. He's your son. They are your kids. And I really should be heading back." Emma replied.

"Of course." Regina replies.

Emma leaves and turns around briefly to find Henry watching her from an upstairs window.

"Sneaky little bastard." Emma looks up seeing a wolf standing in the road, "Fuck!" If she had killed that wolf, Samnun would've had her ass. She spins out of control, crashing into the "Welcome to Storybrooke" sign. Emma's head hits the steering wheel and she falls unconscious. In the middle of the road, the wolf howls.

The storybook, fallen to the floor, flips pages with the breeze and comes to rest upon a picture of Geppetto carving the enchanted tree trunk.

Emma wakes up looking around noticing a dwarf not too far from him, "What are you looking at, sister?"

"Hey, Leroy-manners! We have a guest! So you are eh, Daniel and Henry's mother. How lovely for him to have you back in his life." An elderly man said.

"Actually, I was just dropping him off. Daniel and Henry already has a mother as you well know." Emma replies.

"Tsk. Don't blame ya sister. They're all brats; who needs em?" Leroy laughs.

"Well, I'd give anything for one. My wife and I, we tried for many years for a child, but uh…it was not meant to be." The elderly man informs.

"Well cry me a river." Leroy replies.

Entering and unlocking Leroy's cell, "Leroy! I'm going to let you out; you need to behave. Put on a smile, and stay out of trouble." Leroy smiles falsely, then leaves.

"Seriously?" Emma asked.

"Regina's drinks; a little stronger than we thought." Sheriff smirks.

"I wasn't drunk; there was a wolf, standing in the middle of the road." Emma shrugs carelessly.

"A wolf right." Sheriff smirks, "That's a new one."

A voice rings out, "Graham? Henry's run away again, we have to," Regina comes around the corner into the room when she spots Emma she stops, "What is she doing here?" She turns to Emma, "Do you know where he is?"

"Look lady, I haven't seen him since I dropped him at your house," She points to the jail bars, "Pretty good alibi huh?"

"Yeah, well, he wasn't in his room this morning and Daniel has not seen him since last night when they went to bed."

"Did you try his friends?" Emma asked, "I'm sure he probably told at least one of them already."

"He doesn't really have any. Kind of a loner." Regina states sadly.

"Every kid has friends I think. Did you check this computer? If he was close to someone he'd be emailing them." Emma explains.

"And you know this how?" Regina asked shocked.

"Finding people's what I do. Here's an idea; how bout you guys let me out, and I'll help you find him." Emma bargains smiling because she knew the answer before either said anything.

"Smart kid. Cleared his inbox. I'm smart too, a little hard disk recovery utility I like to use when a target tries to get tech savvy." Emma smirks, Regina hung off her every word impressed, though trying to pretend she wasn't.

"I'm a bit more old-fashioned, in my techniques. Pounding the pavement, knocking on doors, that sort of thing." Sheriff said.

"You're on salary; I get paid for delivery. Pounding pavement is not a luxury that I get. Ah, there's a receipt for a website, – it's expensive." She stops shocked by what she sees, "He has a credit card?"

"He's ten." Regina snapped.

"Well, he used one." Emma points at the computer screen, where the card clearly belongs to Mary Margaret Blanchard. "Let's pull up a transaction record. Mary Margaret Blanchard, who's Mary Margaret Blanchard?" Turning to Regina.

"She's Henry's teacher."

"Where is the other twin at?" Emma asked.

"At school, where Henry is supposed to be." Regina replies.

A woman no older than Emma stood in the front of the class, holding a bird in her hand, is teaching.

"As we build our birdhouses, remember: what you're making is a home. Not a cage. A bird is free, and will do what it will. This is for them, not us. They're loyal creatures." She opens the window and allows the bird to fly away; it flies up to a birdhouse, "If you love them and they love you, they will always find you."

The bell rings; class rises, "We'll pick this up after recess. No running!" She accepts a pear from a student, "Why thank you!" Regina enters the room, "Miss Mills, what are you doing here?"

"Where's my son?" Regina doesn't hesitate she gets right down to business.

"Henry…I assumed he was home with you?" Mary Margaret stutters.

"You think I'd be here if he was? Did you give him your credit card so he can find her?" Regina gestures toward Emma, standing just inside the doorway.

She turns to Emma, "I'm sorry, who are you?"

"I'm…I'm not relevant just a lonely drifter trying to help out a desperate hot mom." Emma smirks gesturing towards Regina.

"Please do grow up Ms. Swan." Regina snaps back.

"Trust me, all grown over here." Emma flirts.

"This is the woman who gave him and Daniel up for adoption." Regina informs.

Emma sighs, "You don't know anything about this, do you?" Realizing the woman had no clue about what was going on.

"No, unfortunately not," She grabs her purse and searches for her credit card, "Clever boy. I should never have given him that book."

"What in the hell is this book I keep hearing about?" Regina snapped.

"Just some old stories I gave him. As you well know, Henry is a special boy not to say that Daniel isn't. Henry is so smart, so creative and as you might be aware, lonely. He needed it." Mary Margaret replied.

"What he needs is a dose of reality." Emma said.

"This is a waste of time. Have a nice trip back to Boston, Emma." Regina snaps, walking out in a huff, knocking over a stack of books on the way.

Emma watches as Mary Margaret picks them up.

"Sorry about that. Women you know." Emma laughs.

"No, it's—it's okay, I fear this is partially my fault."

"How's a book supposed to help?" Emma asked confused.

"What do you think stories are for? The stories? The classics? There's a reason we all know them. They're a way for us to deal with our world. A world that doesn't always make sense. See, Henry hasn't had the easiest life."

They leave the classroom, walking down the hall.

"Yeah I mean I'm sure he's had such a hard life?" Emma replied sarcastically.

"No, it's more than her. He's like any adopted child. Both he and Daniel are. Except Daniel makes friends easily. Henry wrestles with most basic question they all inevitably face: why would anyone give me away?" Mary Margaret stops, realizing what she said, "I am so sorry. I'm so sorry, I didn't mean in any way to judge you…" She stutters.

"It's okay. Doesn't much bother me much really I was young irresponsible I did what I had to do, their lives would've sucked if I had kept them. You think he questions himself now? If I had raised them, they'd both be questioning more than just why someone didn't want them." Emma replies.

"Look, I gave the book to him because I wanted Henry to have the most important thing anyone can have; hope. Believing in even the possibility of a happy ending is a very powerful thing.

"But giving a kid that type of false hope for his future is worse. There's one thing to inspire hope to children, it's another thing giving them false hope. Henry might be a special child but he's also still just a child and hope breeds different outcomes with kids."

"Henry needs to believe that life gets better." Mary Margaret argued.

"He's a spoiled little brat. What kind of problems aside from being adopted does this kid have?" Emma sneered.

"Being adopted can cause all types problems." Mary Margaret said.

"You know where he is, don't you?" Emma accuses.

"You might want to check his castle." She replied.

"His mother asked you for his location and you pretended to not now, you sit here sprouting out nonsensical bullshit yet you believe that, I am more deserving of knowledge of his whereabouts than his own mother. If that's true than you more than anyone needs a dose of reality." Emma snaps before walking off.

Henry sits on his wooden playground castle whole Emma walks up behind him with his storybook.

"You left this in my car," She hands him back the book, "Still hasn't moved, huh?"

He looks down at his book, "I was hoping that when I brought you back, things would change here. That the final battle will begin."

"I'm not fighting any battles, kid." Emma replies.

"Yes, you are. You're here because it's your destiny. You're going to bring back the happy endings." Henry argued.

"Can you cut it with the book crap? Look kid…" Emma tries but is interrupted by Henry, "You don't have to be hostile. I know you like me, I can tell. You're just-pushing me away because I make you feel guilty. It's okay; I know why you gave me away. You wanted to give me my best chance right?"

"Look Henry you don't like lying so I'm going to be brutally honest with you. I am not overrun by regret, we were kids and there would be no way that I would be able to look after 2 kids." Emma admits honestly.

"You said you would be honest you gave me up for the same reason Snow White gave you away."

"Listen to me, kid. I am not in any book. I'm a real person. And I'm no savior. You were right about thing, though. I'm glad that you got have your best chance. But it was never going to be with me. C'mon, let's go." Emma replied.

"Please, don't take me back there! Just stay with me for one week, that's all I ask! One week, and you'll see I'm not crazy." Henry pleaded.

"I have to get you back to your mom." Emma replied, her nerves worked.

"You don't know what it's _like_ with her. My life _sucks!_ " Henry whined.

"Oh, you wanna know what _sucking_ is? Being left abandoned on the side of a _freeway_ , my parents didn't even bother to drop me off at a hospital!" She sneered, "I ended up in a foster system and I had a family until I was three but then they had their own normal kid so they sent me back." She stops takes a breath, "Look, your mom is trying her best and I get that sometimes you think she doesn't love you but your wrong. And if that doesn't make you _feel_ better at she _wants_ you."

"Your parents didn't leave you on the side of the freeway; that's just where you came through at!" Henry explained.

"What?" Emma asked confused.

"The wardrobe. When you went through the wardrobe you appeared on the side of the street. Your parents were trying to save you from the curse." Henry argued.

"It doesn't matter what they thought they were doing Henry. They made a choice to get rid of me and the little bit of family that I've made for myself over the years are the ones I love the most." Emma argued, "Your mother made a family for you and Daniel, loved when I didn't you should appreciate her more. Remember if this fairytale bullshit is real, if it weren't for Regina casting this curse you and your brother wouldn't exist."

She reaches her hand out to him and they walked off. Emma drives Henry back home, they get out of the car and walk up to the house and Henry runs into the house. Emma gets her first glimpse of Daniel and she instantly knew who his other parent was.

"Hey." He nodded his head.

"Sup." Emma replied.

"So you're my birth mom?" He asked.

"It's a long, complicated and unnecessary story because Regina is your real mother, Daniel. That's all that matters, that's all that should matter anyway."

"Cool, so how long you gonna be in town?" He asked.

"I don't know, probably not much longer maybe a day or two." Emma tells him.

He spotted his mother walking towards them, "Well, see ya around, Ms. Swan."

Regina looked happy, "Thank you."

"No problem." Emma replied.

"He seems to have taken quite a shine to you." Regina said.

"Which is totally surprising." Emma replied.

"Why is that?" Regina asked shocked.

"People usually avoid my presence especially little kids, they seem to hate me and it's usually mutual feelings." Emma replies honestly.

"What about Henry and Daniel?" Regina asked.

"Henry is different I'll give him that but I don't know he's cool I guess, Daniel is outgoing too." Emma tried.

"So I guess you'll be going back to Boston tonight?" Regina asked curiously.

"Maybe, maybe not. Maybe I'll leave tonight or maybe I'll see you again." Emma replied shrugging her shoulders.

Mary Margaret places flowers by an anonymous patient's bedside, holds his hand. Does the same for a man in the ICU with a wristband naming him 'John Doe'. The scene transitions to Henry staring out his window at the Storybrooke Clock Tower. It reads 8:15. The scene transitions again as Emma walks into Granny's Bed and Breakfast, where Granny and Ruby are arguing.

"You're out all night, and now you're going out again." Granny yells from wherever the hell she was.

"I should've moved to Boston." Ruby growled.

"I'm sorry that my heart attacked interfered with your plans to sleep your way down the Eastern Seaboard!" Granny growled.

"Scuse me? I'd like a room?" Emma asked Granny.

"Really?" Granny asked shocked Emma nods her head Granny fetches a ledger, "Would you like a forest view or a square view? Normally there's an upgrade fee for the square, but as the rent is due, I'll wave it."

"Square is fine." Emma agrees.

"Now. What's the name?" Granny asked.

"Swan. Emma Swan."

A man appears behind Emma, "Emma. What a lovely name."

"Gee thanks." Emma replied creeped out.

Granny removed a roll of cash from a drawer, hands it to Mr. Gold, "It's all there."

He takes the money without counting, "Yes, yes, of course it is, dear." He turns to Emma, "Thank you enjoy your stay, Emma." He leaves.

"Who was that creep?" Emma asked.

"Mr. Gold. He owns this place."

Ruby watching the old man go through the curtains, "That's Mr. Gold he owns this place."

"The inn?" Emma asked confused.

"No. The _town_. So! How long will you be with us?" Granny asked.

"A week. Just a week." Emma replied.

"Great," She hands Emma an old-fashioned key, "Welcome to Storybrooke."

Henry stares out his window at the clock tower, the clock turns to 8:16 and Henry grins. The start of the final battle would soon begin and good would be victorious.


	2. That Still Small Voice

**Disclaimer: I don't know own any of the characters except my own original characters and I make no money from publishing these stories to this site so please don't sue.** (Won't get crap but it's still such a hassle lol)

AN: I forgot to put the disclaimer in the first chapter but whatevs. Some chapters will follow closely by certain episodes but it's only for such build ups. Some events will happen much earlier than when they occurred during the show so please don't leave a review complaining about such happenings please. I would also like to inform people this is not SWANQUEEN nor will they have any type of sexual/flirtatious relationships but they will have a loving familial bond.

AN2: I will put warnings in all chapters containing triggers, if I include something that is a trigger for you please leave a review or send me a DM and I'll make sure that whenever such subjects occur I will announce it before hand. If anything in a chapter is a trigger for you, I would suggest skipping said chapter and I will do a summary of the previous chapter in the next chapter but you will have to message me so that I can do this.

Warning: I totally forgot to put in the description that this will contain G!P-Emma and OC. As well as talks of mental illness, disturbing thoughts, death, torture, gore, sadistic killing, suicidal thoughts, Dom/Sub behavior, graphic depictions of sex for both same-sex and opposite-sex couples and mild Snow & David bashing.

The mental illnesses depicted in this story may not go into great detail but will be Multiple Personality Disorder, Psychopathy, IED **(Intermittent Explosive Disorder)** and undertones of Schizophrenia.

Let's get on with the show shall we.

Chapter Two

 _That Still Small Voice_

Dr. Hopper sits in his office writing in his notepad during his session with Henry.

"You weren't always a cricket." Henry announces after a long bout of quietness.

Archie jumps not prepared for such a statement, "I wasn't al…Oh right, because um because you think I'm Jiminy Cricket. Why…why do you, Henry why do you think that I am Jiminy Cricket.

"It's just because of who you are." Henry replied.

"And who am I?" Archie asked.

"You're a conscience. You help people see right from wrong." Henry stated.

"So all of the crickets in Storybrooke, they were once people too?" Archie asked writing in his pad.

"There aren't any crickets here, listen," He goes to the window and listens you can hear an owl hooting, but no crickets could be heard.

Archie ponders such occurrences, "Maybe it isn't late enough."

"There have never been crickets here. You've just never noticed before, no one ever notices." Henry whispers.

"So you think that's proof that there's a curse?" Archie asked looking up at the boy.

"Yes, but I know it's not enough, that's why I'm looking for something more."

Archie looked up at the clock realizing the session was over he turns back to the boy, "So Henry, look, I asked you this once before and you said you'd think about it. Why do you think it is so important that this is real?"

"It…it just is." Henry mutters.

"Alright, well…keep thinking about that answer Henry because I think there's something buried there." Archie said standing up.

 **Sheriff Station**

Emma holds up shirt, "A tie? You know you don't have to dress a chick up as a man to give her authority?"

"So you think you can get people to do what you want in that red coat?" Graham asked, smirking.

"I'm getting you to do what I want right now…those people out there will be like sheep to a shepherd." Emma smirks, throwing the shirt down.

"Well, at least wear the badge," Graham tosses her the badge, "Go on. Take it. If you really want to be a part of this community, you have to make it official."

She clips the badge to her belt, and a loud tremor shakes the office briefly. Car alarms are heard going off outside and all of the telephones begins to ring.

 **Entrance of the mines**

A crowd gathers around what appears to be a mine collapse. The Mayor, exits her car and approaches the crowd as police cruiser arrives.

Regina turns to the crowd, "Everyone step back please."

"Is that a crater?" Ruby asked.

"No. There were tunnels, uh old mines, something collapsed." Marco explained.

"Be careful, step back." Regina ordered, Sheriff Graham and Emma approached, "Sheriff, set up a police perimeter. Marco, why don't you help with the fire department? Miss Swan, this is now official town business. You're free to go."

"I'm hurt, Mayor Mills you wound me." Emma smirked, "I work for the town now boss lady."

"She's my new deputy." Graham explained.

"They say the mayor's always last to know." Regina mutters, Emma smiles.

"It's in my budget." Graham replied.

"Indeed," She gives Graham another look, the addresses Emma, "Deputy, why don't you make yourself useful and help with crowd control?" Regina turns to the crowd, "People of Storybrooke don't be alarmed. We've always known this area was honeycombed with old mining tunnels, but fear not. I'm going to undertake a project to make this area safe, to rehabilitate it to city use. We will bulldoze it, collapse it, and pave it."

As she is speaking, Henry and Dr. Hopper arrive.

"Pave it? What if there's something down there?" Henry asked.

"Henry, what are you doing here?" Regina whispers to her son.

"What's down there?" He whispers back to his mom.

"Nothing. Now step back. In fact everyone please, please step back. Thank you. Let's go boys." Regina picks up a piece of glass with a worried look and Henry notices.

Henry turns to Emma, "What was that?"

"Look kid, enough this is a safety issue now go wait in your mother's car so your mother can give her orders and we can do our job."

Regina turns to Emma and Graham, "Deputy Swan, Sheriff, cordon off the area."

Henry gets out of his mother's car and motions to Archie, "Hey Archie. Over here," Both Archie and Emma approach, "This requires all of Operation Cobra both of you."

"I didn't realize I was in Operation Cobra." Archie mutters.

"Of course you are, you know everything. We can't let her do this. What if there's something down there?"

"Kid no, we're going to do our job and make sure no one gets I guess hurt trying to play superhero. They're just some old tunnels that has collapsed."

"That just happens to collapse right after you get here? You're changing things. You're weakening the Curse."

"And you're working my nerves." Emma replied, "Go!" She points to Regina's car.

"Something made this happen!" Henry screams.

Emma looks down at the boy, his psychosis was strong, "Aren't you his shrink? Does this sound healthy to you?"

"I'm not crazy!" Henry snaps.

"Henry, I told you to wait in the car. Deputy, do your job." Archie starts walking away, "Dr. Hopper a word please?" He approaches Regina as the other 2 walk away, "Okay, we're done with this."

"Uh, excuse me?" Archie replies confused.

"My son. We need a new treatment plan. Everything I do he thinks is part of some horrible plot. I can't cover up a safety hazard without him thinking I'm hiding something. How am I hiding something terrible in an old mine? How is any of this logical to him?" Regina snaps.

"He's got an amazing imagination." Archie shrugs.

"Yes,, that you let run rampant which, can cause my son's to get hurt. Henry is becoming reckless and Daniel is going to try to protect him from danger."

"Well I think it would be wrong to rip away the world he's constructed. I'd rather use it to try and get…"

"Sometimes I think you've forgotten. You work for me. You're an employee, and I can fire you. This is _my_ town. You will lose your office, lose your house. I can cut you don't to size until you're a tiny, shrunken little creature, and this," She holds up his umbrella, "Will be the only roof over your damn head."

"What would you have me do?" Archie asked warily.

"You take that delusion out of my son's head…and you crush it." Regina hisses.

 **Archie's Office**

Archie is sitting in his office when Marco enters.

"Hey, Archie." Marco greets.

"Marco, what are you doing here?" Archie asked, Marco motions to his mouth, "Oh lunch. I'm sorry, I forgot. I've got another patient. Another time?"

"Sure, of course," Henry enters, "Hi. Have a good session, Henry." Marco leaves.

"Hey." Archie greets.

"Are you recruiting Geppetto for Operation Cobra?" Henry asked.

"You think Marco is Geppetto?" Archie asked.

"Sure, he's Jiminy Cricket's best friend, and Marco's yours." Henry explained.

"Henry, Henry look…we really need to talk about this, okay?"

"I know you're not convinced but I know where I can get proof." Henry laughs.

Henry opens his backpack Archie peaks in, "What is this? A flashlight? And candy bars? Oh, wait Henry. Henry you do not want to go down there."

"Emma's here and stuff's happening. I have to look at it." Henry argues.

"Henry, stop, stop, there is no proof. Look at all of this, all of this is a delusion. Do you know what a delusion is?"

"I…I think so." Henry listens carefully.

"It's something that's not real. And…and not healthy…and I thought you'd outgrow this but Henry you know…now it's turned into a psychosis. Do you know what a psychosis is? That's when you can no longer tell what's real and if that continues, then…then I have to lock you away. Henry, look this has to stop for your own good. You gotta wake up. This nonsense must end." Archie explains.

Henry gets up and leaves.

 **Later that day**

Daniel followed his stupid brother as he ran to the cave when he realized that Henry was actually going to go in.

"Henry!" He yelled.

Henry turned around when he spotted his brother running to him, "What are you doing here Daniel?"

"Stopping you from doing something really stupid, obviously." He snapped.

"She's hidden something down there and no one will listen to me." Henry yelled.

"Because you sound like a nutcase," Daniel grabbed him by the shoulders, "Tru, bro you don't like people calling you crazy but look at yourself. You sound crazy, raving on and on about fairytales dude I'm your twin and you sound nuts to me."

"I'm not crazy!" Henry sneered.

"Your right you're not crazy you're just weird and lonely. Mom loves you dude even if she is this Evil Queen, she's mom and mom loves us. Emma gave us up no matter what the reasons were she gave us up, mom took us in because we had no one and she was lonely."

"Danny she's the Evil Queen." Henry tried once more.

"And I don't care." Daniel replied shrugging his shoulder.

"Well I do." Henry screamed running into the cave forcing Daniel to chase after him into the cave.

 **Emma POV**

In front of the mines, Archie and I are looking for Henry.

"Henry! Henry!" I yell, this kid is starting to work my nerves already.

 _Who goes running in a damn cave looking for Fairytales?_

"Henry!" Archie yells, Pongo runs to the entrance into the mines, sniffing, "What you got there, Pongo?"

"I don't think he's here." _I really don't care if he is or not._

"I think he is." Archie replies, he picks up an Apollo bar, "Candy bar, he had these with him when I spoke to him earlier in the day."

 **Inside the cave**

Henry, flashlight in hand, Daniel at his side, explores the area when they see a mysterious shard of glass among the stones. He picks it up and examines it and shows it to Daniel who shrugs, when all of a sudden, they hear the gravel rustling. They look up to see an avalanche of rocks, Daniel grabs his hand and runs.

 **Outside the cave**

Archie, Pongo, and I also feel the avalanche, "Henry!"

"Archie!" I yelled.

"Henry! It's not safe!" Archie yelled climbing into the collapsing mine to find Henry.

"Archie?! Henry!" _Are you fucking kidding me?!_

 _C'mon Emma just leave em let them fucking die! We can just say we tried she might believe us._ Kajun growled from my mind.

 **Inside the mines**

Archie lights a match, picks up his lucky umbrella and proceeds to look for Henry, "Henry? Henry?"

Henry and Daniel suddenly comes out with the flashlight shining on Archie, "Archie! You're here to help me!"

"I hope he locks you away forever." Daniel snaps.

"No, I…Listen, we gotta get out of here." Archie says looking around the area.

"So you're still against me." Henry demands.

"Henry everyone is against you! You're acting Schizo dude, your paranoid you say you don't need therapy but you do your crazy!" Daniel screams.

"I am not! Tell him Archie I'm not crazy." Henry pleads.

"Henry there is no time for that. We all must leave now!" Archie orders.

"Trust me I never wanted to be down here anyways." Daniel gripes.

"Neither one of you believe me? You'll see. You'll all see!" Henry screams running away from them.

"Henry! Henry, come back," He turns to look towards the exit then turns back to Daniel, "Get out Daniel I need to find your brother."

"He's a nutcase but he's still my twin I'm not leaving his crazy butt down here."

They both chase after Henry.

They both are searching for Henry, Daniel keeps looking back.

"Henry? Henry? Henry? Henry?" They both see a light in front of them and finds Henry shining the flashlight at a gap on the ground, "Henry! You gotta stop."

"There's something shiny down there." Henry argues.

"Henry this is dangerous dude these mines are unstable we gotta get out of here." Daniel screamed.

"But it could be something." Henry screamed.

"And I don't care." Daniel replied.

Archie looks around anxiously, "Look, I'm frightened for you, Henry."

"Because you think that I'm crazy?" Henry whimpered.

"No! No, because we are trapped underground in an abandoned mine, Henry, and there is no way out." Daniel explained.

 **Outside the mines entrance**

Pongo barks. Regina, Graham, Marco, Ruby and I gather around as workers try to open the entrance.

"Archie is smart. He'll keep the boy safe until we get to that." Marco says to Regina, the ground shakes, "Watch out!"

Regina runs towards me, "Stop! Stop! You're making it worse."

"I am trying to save him. You know what, screw it do whatever the hell you want Regina." I hiss.

My tolerance low I can feel my body getting weak, I lean up against a tree close by, Regina walks over to me.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She snarls.

"You are, Regina!" My vision is becoming bleary until darkness is all I see, "Is there a reason you're so bitchy or was you born like this sweetness?"

 **Inside the mines**

"Do you 2 hear that?" Archie asked.

"It's Pongo!" Henry exclaimed.

"C'mon follow the noise." Danny said running after the barking sound.

 **Outside the mines**

I turn to Regina, "You wanna save the kid or what?"

"Of course I want to he's my son." Regina snapped.

"What do you want me to do then?" I asked.

"Help me." Regina conceded.

"Alright then."

 **Inside the mines**

"It's loud. It's over here." Archie said removing a sheet of metal in his way.

"What's this?" Daniel asked.

Archie uncovers what's behind the sheet of metal, "It's like, an old elevator."

 **Inside the mines**

"We need to find some way to punch through the ground. We need something big." Regina explained.

Emma looked around confused, "Like what?"

Marco walked up behind the 2, "Explosives maybe?"

"I call being the one to detonate them." I throw my hand up waving it excitedly.

 **Inside the mines**

Archie walks towards the elevator, "To get the mine workers in or out. It goes all the way to the top. That's why we can hear Pongo."

"Can we actually make this piece of junk work?" Daniel asked.

"Well let's give it a shot." Archie said smiling at the 2 boys.

 **Outside the mines**

Ruby hides away as the explosives are ready.

I check our surroundings, "Okay, we're all clear."

 **Inside the mines**

Archie tries to turn the wheel of the elevator, "Come on!" Both Henry and Daniel run over to him to assist.

 **Outside the mines**

Regina turns to me, "Blow it."

I smirk it's been so long since I've got to do something like this, "Bombs away." Everyone finds cover when I push down trigger.

Inside the mines, the elevator starts to move a bit, outside at the entrance there's an explosion.

BOOM!

Inside the mines, the elevator shakes and Archie holds both of the kids tightly, the elevator drops a bit. Outside at the entrance, Emma runs into the smoke caused by the explosion.

 **Outside the mines**

I walk back over to Regina after checking the area, "Did it work?" She asked anxiously.

"It didn't open." I tell her honestly.

"Then what did it do?" Graham asked standing behind Regina.

 **Outside the mines**

Regina runs over to the workers.

"What was that? What the hell was that? You said you could do this." She raved.

I take a deep breath, "Madame Mayor."

"You could've killed my son." Regina snapped.

"I know but this, you yelling, is not helping." I reply smoothly.

"If we knew exactly where they were, we could drill down to them." Marco

Pongo's barking catches Emma's attention and she runs towards the fire truck it is in.

"Maybe, maybe make something to bring them back up." Marco suggested.

"A driller." Graham offered.

"What do you think we…" Regina stops when Emma opens the fire truck's door and let Pongo out.

"C'mon buddy," I turn to Regina, Graham and Marco, "It's Archie's dog." Pongo sniffs the ground, "He's found something. Look, this is where they must be. What is it?" Graham and Marco removes a metal covering and a hole blocked grate bars is show, "What is that?"

Graham smirks, "It's an air shaft."

 **Inside the mines**

"I'm really, really, really sorry." Henry cries to Archie and Daniel.

"It's alright." Archie offered.

"It really isn't though we could have died down there because you need so bad for mom to be this Evil Queen that Emma can kill Henry kill!" He turns to face Archie, "Do you listen to him or are you trying to be such a good guy that you allow this type of behavior, dude?" Daniel turns to his brother, "If anyone in this town is evil dude it's you, instead of trying to make Henry happy Dr. Hopper maybe you need to check yourself into a ward because you're crazy just like him."

"I just wanted to find proof." Henry whispers.

"Henry I am sorry too, okay? I don't think you're crazy. I just, I just say to you that you have a very strong mother, you both do. She's strong mother, who's got a clear idea of a path that she wants you to be on. When you step off that, she, she is scared. You know, it's natural. But, it's also natural for you to be able to be free, to think the things that you want to think. I didn't mean those things I said to you I never should have said them." Archie apologizes.

"If you really think that the things Henry believes is right, mom really needs to fire you because you're nuts. He thinks that his mom is the Evil Queen, for one he's 10 why is he still reading Fairytales? That's what you guys need to be talking about. Two, if this is true how can such a well-put together kid be okay with someone else trying to kill him mom but he's supposed to be the good guy."

The elevator starts shaking.

 **Outside the mines**

"Alright, we got it." I yell out.

Regina, Graham and I look down to the deep shaft.

"So, what's next?" Regina asked.

 **Outside the Air Shaft**

"We need to lower someone straight down, or the line would collapse with the sides of the shaft." Marco stated.

"I've got the harness." Graham announced.

"Lower me down." Regina ordered.

"Oh, no way. I'm going." _I've decided I like Storybrooke. I just might stay._

"He's my son." Regina snapped.

"Lady Boss, you've been sitting behind your desk for ten years. I can do this yo plus this is my job." I joke.

"Just bring him to me." Regina whispered.

Inside the elevator of the mines, a few stones drop to the elevator.

"What's that?" Henry asked.

"Dude who else? Mom's mounted an army." Daniel boasted.

Emma appears lowering from the top.

"My mom give you a hard time?" Daniel smirked.

"I don't think it wouldn't be your mom if she didn't." Emma smirked. "You guys ain't dying or nothing right?"

"We are all okay." Archie answered.

"Hang on, you guys," Emma on the walkie-talkie, "Okay, let's get a stop." Emma removes the roof of the elevator, "I was not expecting you to be down here."

"Blame the nutcase back there I was trying to get him not to run down here." Daniel snapped.

"Alright I'm gonna take you 2 first then come back for you Archie." Emma decided.

"Alright." Archie grabs Henry and holds him up to Archie.

"You're a small little shit," She looked down to Daniel, "Alright you're up next." Archie lifts Daniel up next, he wraps his arms around Emma's neck.

"You're a strong chick, Ms. Swan." Daniel remarks.

"Or you 2 are just lightweights." Emma replies.

"You get him to safe…" Archie start but only to stop when the elevator starts to rumble.

"Archie!" Henry screams.

"It's gonna fall!" Archie yells.

"Fuck." Emma whispers, _Let him fall Emma it will give us release at least or we can drop the boys one's not even yours._

"It's okay." Archie whispers.

"Archie!" The elevator falls with a loud noise. But Archie is seen in safety because his umbrella has hooked onto a carabiner on Emma's trousers. Henry laughs with relieve and holds up a thumbs-up signal.

Outside at the air shaft, the crowd all clap their hands as Marco and other workers pull out Emma, Henry and Archie.

Regina gasps when she sees Daniel, she pulls both boys into a hug, "What were you 2 thinking going into an unsafe mine?"

"Doofus over here ran into there, I had to follow him." Daniel responded.

"Deputy, you can clear the crowd away." Regina ordered, she turned to Archie, "Thank you Dr. Hopper for helping my children."

"I wish to speak with you, Madame Mayor." Archie starts.

"Make an appointment with my secretary I need to get my children home." Regina replied ushering her children to her car.

"But Madame Mayor I really…" Archie stumbled then silenced when he realized that she was not listening.

 **The Manor**

"Before you 2 go up to your rooms to get ready for dinner I wish to speak to you both." Regina announced.

Daniel sighs, "Sure."

"Okay." Henry groans.

They walk into the sitting room and sit down, "Wassup?"

"Henry can I ask you why is it so important to you that your fairytale theory be true?" Regina asked.

"I don't know." Henry whispers.

"Will you please think for me?" Regina begged.

"I guess cause this can't be all there is." Henry cried.

"Is your life that bad here with us, with me?" Regina cried.

"Nobody likes me! Everyone prefers Daniel over me, everybody just thinks I'm crazy even you and Daniel!" He accuses.

"Of course we like you Henry, Daniel and I love you. And I don't believe you're crazy." Regina argued.

"Yes you do that's why you sent me to talk to Archie." Henry responded.

"I sent you to speak with Archie because you wouldn't speak with me. I've spoken to Archie before and he doesn't work for me but that's because I'm stuck in my way I thought he would help for you." Regina explains.

"The book…" Henry started.

"Is just a book written by one person, how can one book know every decision, action and thought in everyone's history. There is more to life than one choice good or evil sometimes it's the build up that chooses what life will be like."

"Like little choices leading up to one big choice?" Henry asked.

"No like little choices leading up to one action, sometimes situations don't have choices, remember Henry evil isn't born it's made, babies are not born either good or evil." Regina explained.

"So Mom are you the Evil Queen?" Daniel asked suddenly.

"No nor am I Madame Mayor I am Regina Mills and that's all I've ever wanted to be." Regina replies honestly.

"Is the curse real?" Henry asked.

"Everything comes to an end sooner or later Henry I will say this if it is real and I'm not saying it is but real life is not white and black neither is actions sometimes necessary evils are needed for the betterment of everyone."

In Mr. Gold's pawnshop, Mr. Gold walks pass the pair of puppets on the desk.

Storybrooke General Hospital, Mary Margaret puts her letter of resignation into the mailbox at the counter.

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